A female Police officer told a court how a man attacked her with a burnt branch after she told him to put his bonfire out.

Burnell Howard Wentworth Cross, 59, of Scott's Hill Road, Sandys, denied grievous bodily harm with intent during the first day of his Supreme Court trial on Monday.

Det. Con. Terry-Lynn Williams said she was still suffering from the effects of the attack which have harmed her sports activities for the national softball team however Cross said he was attacked by her and acted in self defence.

Narcotics Det. Con. Williams was a patrol officer on September 26 last year when she was called to Radnor Road in Hamilton Parish after neighbours complained about a smoky bonfire.

Once there she told Cross to put the fire out as it was against the Clean Air Act. Det. Con. Williams said: "He told me he could do what he liked."

She said Cross refused further requests to extinguish the blaze and swore at her so she began to douse it with nearby sand which she pushed with her foot.

As she fetched a shovel from her car, Cross began brandishing a rake and told her to get off his property and accused her of trespassing.

She then reminded Cross that he had earlier claimed it was not his property but Cross continued to curse at her.

Det. Con. Williams said: "He then came from behind me and grabbed me and pushed me towards the fire."

When she had regained her balance she grabbed Cross by the arm and told him he was under arrest for assault but she said Cross said he would not consent and warned her to call back up.

She said: "I tried to maintain a distance as I realised he would be aggressive, he was trying to get at me. He picked up a large tree branch, it was partially burnt and attempted to hit me over the head with it.

"He swung it and I raised my left arm to protect myself. He hit me with a lot of force and I stumbled back." Det. Con. Williams then drew her extendable ASP baton and warned Cross to get back.

She said: "He didn't listen to anything I said. He kept coming towards me with the stick and swung it at me.

"I ducked and then hit him twice, once on the left knee and once on the left elbow. I was trying to protect myself but it had little or no effect.

"He kept repeating: `You are not arresting me, you better call back-up'."

Det. Con. Williams said she was temporarily distracted when some building workers from a nearby job site arrived.

"He (Cross) rushed me and again hit me with the stick on the chest. The blow caused me to drop the ASP."

She said a builder she knew as "Billy" intervened by picking up her shovel. She said: "He said: `If you hit her again I will hit you with the shovel.'

"Another building worker, Mike Burgess, came behind Mr. Cross and swiped his feet from under him and he fell over."

Det. Con. Williams said Cross still struggled as she tried to cuff him and a building worker had to help restrain him on the patch of land which is believed to be owned by Cross's wife.

Doctors at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital told her there was tissue damage on her chest and a minor fracture of her right elbow - three days later she had to be re-admitted with severe chest pains.

She said she had needed three weeks off work, months of physiotherapy and her right elbow has never been 100 percent right since the accident which has affected her performance for the national softball team.

She said: "I can't throw, I can hit."

But Mr. Cross, who is defending himself, said yesterday that Det. Con. Williams had become hostile to him and had then started to use gravel he had bought to douse the fire which he said was nearly out.

He said Det. Con. Williams had decided to give him a beating. He said: "You took out your baton and you started to beat me, first on the upper body, then to my elbow, then knees.

"She hit me six or seven times," said Cross but this was denied in court by the policewoman.

Cross continued: "I started to retreat and picked up a branch in order to defend myself."

He said Det. Con. Williams had then picked up the shovel and threatened to beat him with it so he grabbed it from her.